In their dynamic and in-form number five, the visitors possess a player every bit as capable of turning a game on its head as England's ultra-aggressive batters
Aussies' Head start for tackling Ashes 'Bazball'
While much of the speculation about England's 'Bazball' philosophy heading into the upcoming Ashes has focused on the hell-for-leather nature of their batting, Australia are eyeing a couple of ways in which their rivals might be forced into leather chasing when they bowl.
Central to that sub-plot will be their own strike weapon Travis Head, player of the series when the teams last met in Australia 18 months ago and man of the match in his team's World Test Championship Final triumph over India at The Oval in recent days.
Head's Ashes success was bookended by a couple of blazing centuries that set England's attack on their heels – 152 off 148 balls in that summer's opener at the Gabba, then 101 off 113 in the finale at Blundstone Arena in Hobart.
And in the WTC showpiece that Australia won by a hefty 209 runs, Head contributed 181 of them including his masterful first innings of 163 off 174 balls when batting was at its most fraught on days one and two, which shone as the most marked difference between the competing teams.
Whether or not Head's barnstorming form carries into the five-Test Ashes campaign that begins at Edgbaston next Friday will be known over coming months.
But what can be taken as a given is the 29-year-old left-hander will not alter his approach to batting, which would fit neatly with the ultra-aggressive game plan England have embraced since former New Zealand batting whirlwind Brendon 'Baz' McCullum took over as coach in May last year.
During that time, three England batters have recorded strike rates of 95 runs per 100 balls faced or above in Test cricket – Harry Brook (818 runs at a rate of 99.03), Ben Duckett (690 at 97.18) and Jonny Bairstow (681 at 96.59).
Among all other batters to have accumulated 500 runs or more in Tests over that 12-month window, Head is the only other to have plundered them at a rate above 80 with his 964 (average 60.25) coming at a none-too-shabby clip of 83.75.
"Travis puts so much pressure on opposition bowlers," Australia men's team coach Andrew McDonald said in the wake of Head's match-defining knock against India.
"They bowl good deliveries, and they find a way to the boundary. He's going to be a handful (in the Ashes) and he's going from strength to strength.
"We always talk about players growing and maturing, but to play that type of game over an extended period of time is amazing really. It's super impressive."
The most striking difference between the 'Bazball' phenomenon and Australia's likely response to it is that every top-order batter in McCullum's line-up, including skipper Ben Stokes, is expected to play in the rampaging style.
And while Australia has long boasted players in their top six who adopt that mindset successfully in Tests, with veteran opener David Warner the most overt of the ilk, they have also tempered that game style with more traditional (AKA conservative) stroke-makers.
McDonald claimed a large part of his team's success in the WTC Final, played on a pitch that exhibited variable bounce from day one when Australia were sent into bat and slumped to 3-76 before Head cut loose, was the contrasting strategies deployed by the middle-order.
"He (Head) has got great self-belief, and the freedom in which the other batters allow him to play," McDonald said. "There's some real stability in and around him.
"When Trav goes, it allows the others to sit in. We saw that great partnership (at The Oval), 285 runs (with Smith for the fourth wicket).
"It was different styles and they complemented each other."
As McDonald had identified before his team departed Australia last month, an under-appreciated aspect of England's renaissance under McCullum has been the significant improvement in strike-rate among their front-line bowlers.
For example, veteran seamer James Anderson has pulled his rate back from a wicket every 79.6 deliveries in the year before 'Bazball' arrived to 42.1 under McCullum, while Ollie Robinson's success rate has reduced from 48.4 to 44.9 over the same period.
McDonald previously noted an important factor in those trend lines was the influence of left-arm orthodox spinner Leach, whose own strike-rate dropped from a wicket every 92.9 balls in the year prior to May 2022, to 68.6 when deployed as steady foil to the pace bowlers' all-out attack under the new regime.
As a consequence, the loss of Leach looms as potentially significant.
He has been replaced in England's Ashes squad by recalled veteran Moeen Ali, who retired from Tests in 2021 and boasts an underwhelming record of 20 wickets at an average of 64.65 (strike-rate 100.5) from 11 Tests against Australia.
"I think there's a challenge there," McDonald said of the forced change to England's bowling personnel.
"I mean Mo (Moeen) hasn't played a red-ball game for an extended period of time (since September 2021).
"No doubt he'll be prepared and he's had a couple of weeks' notice, but I think Jack Leach really complemented that attack and his wicket-taking ability – and the way that Ben Stokes has used him – has been a little bit more aggressive and reaped some great rewards.
"So it's going to look different with Mo there.
"Mo's got 190-odd Test wickets, and it strengthens their lower-order (batting) so they'll have to operate fractionally differently, no doubt about that."
World Test Championship Final: Australia won by 209 runs
First Test: Friday June 16-Tuesday June 20, Edgbaston
Second Test: Wednesday June 28-Sunday July 2, Lord’s
Third Test: Thursday July 6-Monday July 10, Headingley
Fourth Test: Wednesday July 19-Sunday July 23, Old Trafford
Fifth Test: Thursday July 27-Monday 31, The Oval
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner